I always have all the answers. Name a problem and I'll have the fix. And if I don't, I'll die trying to find it. Once in awhile, on Twitter, the Oprah flipboard will have something that catches my eye. Today it was a post by Martha Beck on "Overhelpers Anonymous". Overhelper is the word that flagged me. That's me. That's a good word for always having the right answer – many times you end up an Overhelper.
There really are times when one must use deference, and, even though you know in the depths of your heart, you have the answer, the very thing that will fix everything, make it all better, make everyone happy again, you can't offer it. There are reasons you have to hold back, and as hard as it is, you have to keep your mouth shut. This isn't easy. Your need to help is about to burst out of you. Me? I either have to write about it or talk to someone about it to reassure myself that keeping quiet is what I must do. Why? That's the catch 22 – because it's the best way to help.
Sometimes people you love must be allowed to discover things on their own, so they can "own" them. Sometimes a person is not in the right frame of mind, or in a good place, and not ready to hear your wonderful, cure all, wisdom. To offer it at the wrong time would be like trying to tell a person in a coma why they are in the hospital. When the time is wrong, and we have the info but know we cannot share it, Julia Cameron offered this bit of wisdom in today's reading in the Artist's Way Everyday:
"As we ask, believe, and are open to receive, we are gently led." ~ Julia Cameron
From this I get sit quietly. Let God gently lead and guide. Chances are the project has been His all along anyway. Let Him finish His work. Sometimes He gives us the answers first to allow us to breath in the ah-ha moment and adjust to it ourselves, before we can effectively share it. Be gently led.
And so, as another day goes by, I share the link to the Overhelpers Anonymous post below because it is tremendously insightful, and …I have written.
http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Martha-Beck-Overhelpers-Anonymous
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